Are you happy?

This is the popular question Shelby utters to us several times a day ~ I don't know where she picked this up, but she asks us this a lot. She is also big into saying "Okayyyyy", drawn out a bit, which strikes me a little funny. And when driving in the car she asks "What's that?" to just about every building we pass. I noticed that her teachers have been marking "inquisitive" on her sheet quite a bit, so guess she is in that phase.

We are SO long overdue on an update. What can I say? Life chasing 2-year olds is busy....on top of keeping up the house, managing the church meals ministry, co-teaching a bible study and attending a bible study. I am starting to wonder when I have time to sleep these days! But that is a must, sleep is non-negotiable for me. December was quite busy due to holidays (as everyone is so busy), what is it about that time of year? I guess with the hustle & bustle of all the shoppers, you just feel in a rush with everything! I was crazy busy making Christmas cards (yea, that was a bright idea), making a few gifts and then the holidays themselves. We spent Christmas & New Years in Oklahoma and enjoyed the long visit home. Shelby & Mason had so much fun playing, I think they are really going to be good friends. I've also noticed the past few visits home that Shelby gets pretty attached to Nana. Whenever Nana leaves the room, Shelby is immediately looking for her. And as soon as we got home, she was asking "Where's Nana?" as if she just expected her to be at our house too. All in all a good visit home and then it was back to life in McKinney.

I signed on to co-teach a bible study for our young ladies (ages 13-22) at church. We are teaching a book "Lies Young Women Believe" and it is really good. I WISH I'd had this as a teenager, sure would've helped me make better choices in my young adult life. So, January quickly became filled with preparing to start that study. Last night (2/8) was my first night to teach a lesson ~ I just shared testimony about when Drew was in Iraq. Shared with the girls how God had helped me through that time. It was emotional, in a good way, to relive those memories and how I got through that time, all the while working full time and taking care of Shelby. God is an amazing comforter when we turn to Him and fully rely on His grace, love & support. I'm looking forward to teaching some of the other chapters in the book.

We started back to preschool after the winter break, Shelby was pretty excited to see her teachers. And Abby rejoined us on Jan. 19th ~ this is Leslie's last semester of nursing school and I am keeping Abby 3 days/week, with a few extra days here & there when additional things occur at school. The girls are doing well playing together and sharing toys ~ I think preschool has really helped with that. And cleaning up! We sing the "cleanup song" and Shelby seems to enjoy picking up her toys. One day at lunchtime, she didn't come when I called and I started to get frustrated. When I went to find her in the living room, all exasperated, she was singing the song & picking up her toys. Boy did I feel like an idiot. We've had a rough few weeks of illness, which had us all run down. Kept battling sinus colds and the drastic warm/cold weather changes certainly did not help. It'd be 70 one day, then overnight drop to 30 the next. Seriously, it has been the most bizarre winter I can recall in recent years. Well after 3 relapses, I finally went to the Dr. Shelby & I both had sinus infections, so got on antibiotics and a cough medicine for her and worked on getting better. We were coming out of that after a week and then she came down with a stomach bug. Just could not catch a break! Drew & I thought we'd missed it, but a few days after she was sick Drew came down with a mild case. I fortunately did not catch it. I was very blessed to not get that. But we are all recovered now & hoping to stay well for awhile.

So what Shelby is up to....she is LOVING her trains that she got for Christmas. Uncle Russ spoiled her with lots of Thomas train toys, some cool tracks, etc. I'm really having to get an "Engineer's mind" to set these things up ~ Drew is definitely better at it than me! She also got some play dishes & a tea set, that she just loves. She gets such a kick out of making us some tea or coffee, giving us "cake", etc. I had no idea she'd enjoy that as much as she has. She is conversing very well with us, Drew & I really enjoy the little conversations we have with her. I went to Houston for a girl's weekend and when I called home, she got on the phone and we'd have these little conversations about what they'd been doing. It was so cool! She knows her numbers & alphabet, shapes and colors. We're working on counting to 20, she gets a few of them, but usually just starts back over counting at 1 after she gets to 10. She has become a big Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan with Daisy being her favorite. She's been asking to wear underwear & pullups lately, and she is showing more signs of being ready for potty training. Diapers have been drier throughout the day, etc. We may try over Spring Break while we're just home for that week. I must be like the laziest Mom about this, but just haven't wanted to rush it. But since she's seeming so interested, figure I'd better take advantage of that and see how we do. Guess you just jump in & give it a try!
Well that's about all for us now ~ enjoy pics below & hope all of you are well!!

My big puffy coat for the cold mornings playing outside @ preschool!

Helping get the Christmas decorations out, she especially liked wearing these beads.

All decorated! She was a big help. :)

Just couldn't resist posting this picture ~ loved that expression!

Shelby w/Santa Clause ~ this is actually a guy at our church, the beard is real and his nickname at church really is "Ho-Ho" because he looks like Santa. Such a nice man & patient w/the kiddos.

Drew putting together Shelby's "Jeep" ~ I learned this Christmas that Drew can't go to Toys R Us by himself next year. I sent him for 2 small trains, he showed up with 5 and THIS. Guess it's true what they say, Toys R Us is really the place "where a kid can be a kid". :)

Thought it cute she was buckling Lamby in too. Safety first!

Definitely enjoyed tearing into presents this year ~ she really enjoyed all that fun!

Mommy & Me on Christmas Day ~ managed to get her to be still! (This took 5 shots to get!)

A preview of teenage years? She is talking to Granny Bomar on Drew's cell and would not give it back! Awhile back we couldn't get her to talk on it, now she won't stop! HA!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! Shelby's preschool put on a Thanksgiving luncheon where the parents could attend. It was really cute to see all the little kids and get to know the other Mom's. Then we headed to Oklahoma for the holidays and had a great time with family. Shelby & I went up a few days early to get some extra Nana & Papa time in. Shelby & Mason had a lot of fun playing together, building train sets & playing with Thomas trains, chasing each other and of course doing some spinning. We also played outside a few times when it was warm enough. It was pretty chilly up there! We ended up having our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday as that's just how scheduling worked out, but it was all good the same. The fried turkeys were AWESOME (way to go Uncle Russ)!! And of course we enjoyed Nana's stuffing & sweet potato crunch. Aunt Kellie made a coca-cola cake this year and I believe this will now have to be a holiday tradition for dessert. It was really good and went fast. As Shelby said "I like this cake! It is yummy!" I'm hoping she'll be making it again at Christmas. Uncle Russ spoiled us with good breakfasts too, biscuits & gravy one morning and then these pancake puff pastries the next. If you've seen that little cooking skillet with the round pancake holes, that's what he used. They were great!! I think I will have to start working out as the pants feel a little snug after all that eating! We thoroughly enjoyed all the college football games because of Nana & Papa's new flat screen plasma tv ~ 50 inches!! Man, watching football at home is a real bummer now after seeing it on that! The picture was amazing and no matter what angle you sat at, you could see the screen crystal clear. And of course we were totally psyched watching our Boomer Sooners beat Oklahoma State Sat. night, a great game that could've gone either way. OSU played really well as we knew they would and it was definitely a classic game. Can't wait for this Sat. to play Missouri ~ but it won't be near as much fun to watch on our TV. May just have to run up I-35 to Nana & Papa's again!! :) Hope everyone had a nice holiday, enjoy the pics! (I also just tried out updating the background using a cool site I got from Cindy's blog - how neat & so easy!)

Say cheese! I actually got a smile!

Turkey hat & placemat made at Preschool.


Some more crafts made at school ~ thought it was cute how she had her foot turned in.



One of our several cooking mishaps ~ our pumpkin pie defrosted a little TOO much in the fridge. No problem though, Russ salvaged it and just poured it out of the box & back in the pan. :)

Mom & Shelby on Thanksgiving Day ~ last pic before I cut my hair!

Vroom, vroom! Shelby really liked this car ~ she called it the "Sally Car" after Sally on the Cars movie, who is her favorite character/toy these days.

Mason cracks me up! What a smile!!

Mom, I think I'm ready for my Harley now.

Is there anything better than watching Cars in Nana & Papa's big bed?

Playing trains.....they did this for a long time. I know what Shelby's getting for Christmas!

Santa Baby, too cute! Here's my short hair, quite a difference!

Mason helping Nana unpack Christmas stuff by wearing it.

It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already upon us ~ where did October go?? Time really does fly these days. We had a great visit in Tulsa with Uncle Russ. We spent Saturday at the BBQ Competition, which was really fun. And they came in 2nd place, so we were super excited! Shelby enjoyed running around the whole time and looking at the water (it was on the riverwalk in Jenks, OK). Skee's daughter Bailey (9) was VERY helpful with chasing Shelby down. I was really glad she was there AND that she wanted to help so much with Shelby ~ made things a little easier for me!
Shelby has really been cracking us up these days with her antics. Whenever I am doing laundry, she loves to try and put on my underwear or another pair of her pants over what she already has on. I don't really wish for my child to be putting on my undies, so I get her a pair of my old boxer shorts I used to sleep in and she is satisfied w/using those. Ha! She is still really into cars and trains these days ~ we recently got her a Sally car and she LOVES it. Carries it around all the time, when she doesn't have it she'll ask "Where Sally go?" and then we hunt it down and she tells me "Sally was hiding". She & Abby also LOVE to listen to the Cars soundtrack ~ Route 66 by John Mayer being their favorite. They dance around and just really enjoy it. It's so cute. Last night we were playing w/play-doh after dinner and for some reason us rolling it into a ball & tossing it around the table was hysterical to her. I don't know why really, but she was giggling so hard. She told me "You make me giggle". Couldn't help but laugh at that, I know I've said that to her, but for her to say it back & in the right context, we just thought that was too funny. I thought to myself that it's those little moments, when they are sweet or say funny things that are worth the temper tantrums and rough days. When they do or say things that just make you laugh or melt your heart, then it's all worth it.
Shelby's had some big boo-boos lately, with 3 head injuries in a 2-week span. The worst was falling on the driveway and hitting her head pretty hard ~ Drew said she was really stunned at first, then the tears flowed. They came in and she told me "I need ice". We had used ice the previous 2 injuries, and now it seems everytime she bonks her head, even a little one, she will tell me she needs ice. Or she will tell us "Kiss it". :)
Her napping has been a bit better lately ~ still skips a nap 1-2 times/week, but we just have rest time on those days, reading books in her bed and quietly playing. She has been wanting to sleep on the futon in her room and use it as a big girl bed ~ we tried a few weeks ago, but she came out several times to see us and kept getting up to play. We put her back in the crib and told her she wasn't ready. Well, she was asking again this week and so we tried it last night. She actually did go to sleep, didn't come out to see us or get up (as far as we could tell from the monitor) and slept there all night. I tried it today for naptime, but it didn't work. We'll see again tonight ~ she's probably getting close, I can imagine though how exciting that must feel, to have that freedom.
Well that's about it from our house ~ looking forward to the holidays coming up & spending time w/family.

My big boo-boo on forehead ~ this one hurt the worst thus far!

Wearing Mommy's boxers!

Wearing Mommy's shoes & going shopping!